Start-Up Phase Tools & Resources

If you don’t have a food council in your community, and you can answer ‘Yes’ to the following questions, you’re probably in the start-up phase of food council or network development.

Is your community ready for a food council?

Do you have a cross-sector organizing group of 5-15 people who are eager to help form a food council or network?

Do you have time to work on this over a 9-12 month period?

Every community is different, and every approach to food council development is different. Generally speaking, the start-up phase describes what a council could look like in your community while at the same time creating the conditions for a food council to survive and thrive there. During this phase, organizing groups (aka task force groups) develop a rough scaffolding for the council so that key stakeholders can weigh in support or opposition of the concept. In many cases these key actors can make or break its success. This phase takes approximately 12 months.